My Start-up Failed In 22 Months - Here's What I Learnt

[@explosioninthesky]

The thing that really interesting in entrepreneurship is every failure is a lesson

[@juanshaftpatel7488]

in life

[@dgr8oneme]

Yeah but that's applicable to everyone, not just entrepreneurs 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@CuongNguyen-le5ic]

The problem is not many people have the chance to start a new one. I recently watch history of Trump. In fact Trump failed several times, the biggest one is when he lost all money due to Casino Bankruptcy. Yes most of his money that would destroy most people, but luckily he got his daddy to clean up and let's him try again and again and again. Just saying the different between the rich and poor is the poor only have 1 chance most of the time. While the rich will have so many chances and each failure is a lesson for them to start a new one.

[@kalemercer7053]

"Show me someone who has never failed, and ill show you someone that has never tried"

[@NamaDoodoo]

💯

[@TDOTSE1]

Love this saying 🔥👌🏾

[@Whatsyourproblemhuh]

Kylie

[@lucianjefernein8721]

Mark zakarburg? Zeff besos? Both Fb and Amazon were success since their early days and have yet to see bankruptcy and won't most probably.

[@kalemercer7053]

@prathamesh bhat Bill gates dropped out of Harvard, went back 33 years later to finish.

[@hansonkewl2377]

Appreciate your bravery for sharing with the public, especially perspective coming from an Asian person. Not many and enough failure stories being told around here, absolutely bravo!

[@damianwong7503]

Huge respect for sharing your story here. Failure isn't something that we should be afraid of in Singapore. We need more Entrepreneurs that are courageous enough to challenge the status quo.

This is not about studying your hardest for a test and just taking it, there’s real life consequences to entrepreneurial failures. A lot of people won’t recover from losing 200k, financially or mentally.

[@pragatdutt8779]

The way he is still smiling.He is a headstrong.

[@teohyc]

This video is missing the reasons why the business failed

[@deannahenry8925]

Yeah

[@dimi_sf]

They never were able to become profitable and kept burning through cash. Finally the investors called him and told him they aren’t gonna keep financing his experiments. The next day he closed the company.

[@Hotpotato888]

Yup 👍

[@celinasjourney]

They ran out of money.

[@trext888]

I thought these VC funded startups usually will make the founders very rich(self pay hih), then the comapny closes also wont affect the founder badly but instead already earned quite a hefty sum??

[@WillardSwanson]

Brother. Many people fail and do not want to share the experience. You shared your experience and this has helped and inspired a lot of people to try again.

[@lwaziii_za5232]

Respect brudda you experienced and something epically unbelievable ,props to you

[@mvpmikey]

Food Delivery is better than Food pickup on a vending machine. That is no different than food pickup directly from restaurants. This idea works best if catered on companies, not public areas. People can advance order, and have it ready in their department 5 minutes before breaktime. Great for places like Hospitals where employee don't really have time to buy food, and fall in line.

[@ta-ya-music]

The best resume anyone could have for a JOB *my startup failed*

[@jaybijwe9371]

He is the brave and courageous guy. I respect you from the bottom of my heart. I hope You'll succeed in future.

[@hansonkewl2377]

Pick yourself back up, identify your true strength and find another passion, reconnect the dots and start another journey

[@yudianantha4549]

Im more interested in failure story than a success one. It helps me to learn more to avoid the same mistake they made. While you can find success story everywhere, its quite rare to find a failure one.

[@junotisno15]

My master's thesis is about entrepreneurial learning from business failure, and most respondents told me that the one thing that learnt was they did not make a proper planning when starting their first business. Post failure, they realized that it took a good preparation when you found a business--even if you ended up not using a lot of that plans. As former US President Eisenhower said, "plan is useless, but planning is indispensable".

[@memifer9797]

It is not a failure, it's an experience!!! You learnt a lot!!!

[@foreigncreations1793]

Failure is just testing. Keep going, it’s ok to fail. Without failure there’s no growth.

[@faithlee8436]

Thanks for making a difference, bringing a Paradigm shift to Singapore’s highly fail averse landscape... 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Kudos!

[@abdurrahman363]

This video deserves more views.

[@gameprey1777]

KZbin algorithms...pfff

[@princewilliams1298]

This was a true inspiration for me. I want to start a business in the Healthcare industry to help people access essential health services while doing it at age 15. I'm actually am using the summer to start the journey with my team. Being 15 myself, I know that my idea might not work, but it is definitely something to pursue. A truly inspiring video.

[@raja03able]

Startup itself a brave movement rather than being salaried. Bravo!!!

[@jasmera9889]

Great story. At least you have a 'failed try' rather than 'no attempt' in your resume

[@xibalxibalba]

Hello Khoo! thank you for sharing your story it was really inspiring and I'm so glad you did it because you're real proof that entrepreneurs do exist. Perhaps I didn't understand what the real problem was so I will ask it incase someone else understood. Was the reason the start up failed because investors wanted you to open 10 machines in 6 months but realistically you didn't have the monetary means to do that? So is the reason due to poor money management or because the planning failed? How can this situation be avoided for entrepreneurs who want a take away lesson? I appreciate anyones help on this. Thank you so much!

[@WhatWillYouFind]

IF it wasnt the market at the time, covid surely would've sunk him. best wishes though, he seems like a genuine guy

[@exclusiveinvestments8135]

Good job, it is a sign you are up to something big...Never give up

[@sage_sydney]

This video is the secret to living a happy life

[@revolvency]

For anyone who wants to start a startup, please cross-check your technological innovation with the other field, or ignorance will kill your start-up. Foe example: 1. Drone that can help spreading fertilizer in a rice field. Seems cool right? Yes, but it can't be implemented, it will destroy the rice field in the long run. 2. IoT for fish farming, so you can feed your fish, monitor the water, oxygenase the water automatically. Seems revolutionary right? Yes, but the price is too high for the farmer, the break even point would be too far for the farmer.

[@NangongReng1973]

Some celebrities like to help people like Jack Ma or Jackie Chan.Or even Jet Li. Try selling your ideas to them and they will help u as investor . But the only problem, how do u get to know them?

[@banbeelee4484]

Not a failure, just have not reach the point of success, keep going.

[@Macam2macam]

thank you mr khoo. you are brave.

[@rumayayad4361]

According to Taleb, two worst addictions are heroin and salary. Sad to see this founder go back to the corporate world. If it was SF he would have failed enough times and made it big. Culturally we are not very good with the ‘fail fast, fail often’ mantra.

[@BizVlogs]

Failing is acceptable. What’s unacceptable is never trying.

[@ahmadzaimhilmi]

Sometimes it's just down to luck and timing despite all the determinations and efforts that you throw in.

[@muyiwaosifuye]

What he must have learned in those 2 years would serve as formidable resources which would benefit his employer. I still see him go out on his own...yet again and becomes a winner. Entrepreneurship is a "bug" in some people.😁 Starting any business is akin to playing football, there will be dribbles and passes and knocks. You never know what your "opponents" could do. But play, you must... You either get the ball in the net or nurse your loss!

[@tonysamaniego7875]

That slow jog at the end was a bit cheesy but great content overall!

[@nayeemshouvon]

Thanks for sharing.

[@ziaularief]

Really needed this

[@Telluwide]

I'm 2 minutes in and don't know anything about the company, but I can easily see why it was a loser from the beginning. Vending machines filled with non or slow perishable food and drinks are one thing. But vending machines that have perishable food items which require some prep, heating and cooling, plus constant restocking and the waste of foods that don't sell. What a nightmare.....

[@bobkelso5681]

Failing 1000 times is still better then going to a place each day of your life programming senseless forms and buttons for cooperate software.

[@bhushan02u]

With every failure you learn something

[@dlwy4934]

Anything with "Bee" is doomed to fail...

[@chewdrag]

Thanks for sharing

[@theniii]

Although i respect him for sharing his failure, He didn't share why the business failed or what he learned, this is just what happened and what he felt, which isn't really very helpful.

[@wida2775]

Gagal sudah biasa, bangkit lagi luar biasa.

[@Jasongy827]

Amazing. Story.

[@danh5637]

i don’t know. were you just forced by pushy investors to grow to fast? or was there a lack of genuine demand in your service? if it’s the former then you just moved to fast and ran out of capital. if there was genuine interest. you should get back your storage cubbys and start over just move more slowly and don’t spend money you don’t have. i’m not sure why you’d give up because of an anomaly. a true failure is when the public or the hawkers aren’t interested. if that’s the case then yeah walk away. if not then just do the same thing but on a shoe string budget even if you have to deliver food yourselves to begin with. don’t give up so easily.

[@iamrjarpan]

Long story short "Never start company for making money"

[@gammagoblin9656]

Amazing

[@KillerKingdom]

Dark secret of entrepreneurs

[@prettyo.1385]

We often or always jst see success stories of people, but we rarely hear stories of failure. Bcoz of that when we're young we tend to oversimplify life and think that its jst gonna be smooth sailin ahead. In reality, failure happens, most people failed on their first try and its normal. Only a small percentage of people who followed their dreams gain instant success, life isnt jst rainbows n butterflies. Im glad i watched this video, and i really appreciate him for sharing his story!

[@GameFuMaster]

agreed, I tried making my own start up, only to realize once I built a prototype, it's the selling that's the most difficult. Not to mention, a start-up is a job that's longer than a 9-5 with unstable pay.

[@prettyo.1385]

@@GameFuMaster what startup may i ask?

[@GameFuMaster]

@@prettyo.1385 it's a platform for brick-and-mortar stores to create maps and to place items onto it, so it's easier to find them in-store.

[@ZhaneStrife]

Thanks for sharing this. Ur a brave man. You will succeed one day eventually

[@erich9779]

Quit that

[@cidd04]

he did not succeed

[@officialcritz4554]

Rafael Ansay takes time, a poor mindset is looking at things now, not in the the future.

[@vll16b]

Brave guy. At least this guy has a sense of leadership and responsibility in him.

[@hidayat1999]

The entreprenuirship inductry is quite toxic. Jezus. There are many other ways with those characteristics

[@entrepreneurcentral2883]

Thank you, good entrepreneur content

[@leehyunsong7001]

Two years without competition and business still fail, very likely the business model is not profitable; how much Singaporeans willing to pay extra while most of us can just buy foods downstairs.

[@brackpersian]

$1.50 lol

[@Xperian13]

Services like GoFood/GrabFood isn't available in Singapore back then?

[@JCTPing88]

@@Xperian13 grabfood, food panda and many more were already in market back then.

[@JCTPing88]

Food delivery is never a profitable business, at least several years from beginning

[@Zo-hc2fn]

I am thinking about a new type of restaurants : eating-spots, in eating-spots, food keeps changing, chefs also rotate, this is opposed to current restaurants, thanks to this rotation of food and chefs, eating-spots are more powerful than restaurants along with that, there is an app, people vote for the food that will be cooked in the next days menu is influenced by the live input of the people via an app.

[@JeffLamth]

Hey Khar Kiat, thanks for being brave to share this! Not sure if you still remember me; I still remember you while at Pollinate - you always had a positive aura around you and that is really something that can’t be easily taught. Would love to catch up with you sometime!

[@adrians.7489]

Show me One Great founder that has t experienced failure in the past. You can’t. I love this guy for sharing this.

[@syazana4350]

"Failure is okay". When you said that I feel like somehow relieved because I always think of myself as a failure. Thank you, sir. I really need to hear that. I hope you'll success in future in whatever you're doing☺️

[@singhraunak09]

I fail 21 interview for a in last three month and after that I successfully clear 19 interview got a job in one of the best company of UK. Very happy to face such failure who can teach you better then success. 🙂

[@TheHawk005]

congratulation bhai have a great life....!!!

[@singhraunak09]

@@TheHawk005 thank you bro

[@joshimdhishim309]

What company? Whats your role?

[@theman5614]

gratz really good, money is one thing but enjoying being in a good company plus job makes it a big bonus!

[@learnersparadise7492]

Interview is nothing compared to trying out a start-up

[@RayMak]

Honestbee died too right?

[@brackpersian]

Play ur piano lah

[@sayyidpersonal]

A great entrepreneur once told me. Learn from the mistake of other people rather than seeing other people success.

[@muyiwaosifuye]

You are correct! That's where the secret lies...reason; mentoring goes a long way.

[@grandelande1]

its jack mas quote

[@farajasmin1497]

Hi, I am a lecturer and would love to share your story to my students. People tend to share success story but at the same time how many businesses that were actually survive? With this story, I will be able to share how important it is to accept failure, never give up and always allow yourself to develop. Everyone do mistakes. Thank you for your sharing

[@skysocial.agency]

I have learned so much more from my failures than anything else. The thing I love about people like you is that you are the few who take action, not afraid of risk, and a role model aiming to change an industry.

[@gauravpatil6289]

Ur not a failure Ur a winner who just a step away.. I BELIEVE IN U

[@smileyn7377]

Best wishes to Khoo Khar Kiat.

[@Gamabunta24345]

I love this. They are showing the failures as well.

[@SamCarLegion]

It takes guts to share failure, I have great respect for him. We always hear and watch success stories. This made a difference. #keepmoving

[@hidayat1999]

It takes guts? He has a mindset of a 12 year old and all the entreprenuers in this comments are kids. To be an entrepreneur, dont have an ignorant mindset.

[@hyzelfadhil5691]

An extremely valuable, refreshing and insightful interview. The business may have failed but the knowledge and experience he gained is immense. Matter of time before he will see success. God willing.

[@CLSGL]

The education system teaches you that failure is never ok. If you can avoid failure, do so at all costs. This forces people to give up their dreams and pursue a more “reasonable” life with a lower/lower middle class wage. Failure forces us to be better. After failing so many times with different startups, I’m glad I finally found my path to success in software.

[@brucewayne5916]

Who says is failure is Okay are super dumb. He lost 200K$ , and probably his life savings and banks wants their money back. He is lucky here, getting offered jobs from MNC companies. Not all people are lucky. Eventually they loose their homes. Failure is okay, but not easy one. Failure may take an entire life 😔

[@CLSGL]

BRUCE WAYNE But it’s all about taking risk. Elon Musk started Tesla and SpaceX. They both almost went bankrupt, with SpaceX only having about $200,000 left. Now SpaceX is worth well over 20 billion dollars. Failure is good. I call it the great teacher.

[@CLSGL]

santa's brother Pretending like you can escape failure is true failure.

[@miketaiwanwalkcity6355]

I applause! He was COURAGEOUS to quit his job and tried to make his vision a reality

[@erlangga1990]

Dude, you're like my hero. the man who takes action.

[@jk35260]

Startup is really tough work but this is where Singapore really need. People with the grit and spirit to work out something new. I would lend my support to such locals who are willing to try by trying out their products.

[@Toiletbowl93]

Bock Keat Thank you. This means a lot to all of us entrepreneurs. :)

[@austinluis9446]

Hello

[@jryde421]

Not only is he brave to leave his career and start a bussiness...this man told his failures...major props bro.

[@b3ans4eva]

Here’s a documentary from 2001 about another failed startup: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n5PYmoiOhLl4aq8

[@zhaofei8515]

It's not embarrassing to share failure, cause it developed you.

[@burtonl7239]

Ok.... Tell that to rapists who share how they were caught. Now ask them how raping ppl developed them.

[@arvinsim]

And that's why it's usually the rich who can learn and eventually run businesses. Because they can afford to fail.

[@caninho1]

we gotta work on his running though. that knees...ouch

[@nalaunobelmoura4000]

Why deliver to a locker? Why not straight to customer?

[@OrangeTweenStudio]

Because in that case, there wont be any machin....... Electr......... Rental co.........Impracti.......... My gosh you're right!! Why didn't I think of that...

[@OrangeTweenStudio]

I think their only reason will be "thats what makes us different from deliveroo, foodpanda, grab or gojek."

[@ddeine_]

Maybe people are willing to walk to these lockers if they can save some money

[@nalaunobelmoura4000]

@@ddeine_ Hmmm, yeah that could work, but people are lazy nowadays, and it's inconvenient to walk down to a locker just to get your food. Remember, millenials prefer convenience much more than price. It's a whole different generation.

[@atadtoopink]

Cost & productivity. Grabfood/Foodpanda/Deliveroo pay riders anything from $5-8 to deliver an order, sometimes even surpassing the cost of the meal itself. The only reason they're still around is because of heavy subsidies by venture capitalists in pursuit of 'market share'. With this model, you require only a handful of drivers to serve the whole business park and make significantly fewer trips as orders are fulfilled en masse. Would have been interesting to hear from the horse's mouth himself what he thought were the contributing reasons that led to the demise of the start-up. Nevertheless, great short clip to illustrate the benefit of failure!

[@karlchandran4631]

Facing your failures and overcoming your fears is the only way to succeed.

[@chewpiinhuann1476]

The $200,000 which he lost was from Investors (Angel investors, Venture capital firms etc.) right? That is such a large amount of money that could be use to alleviate the poor (e.g.: hard labour, single mother etc.). But instead, he wasted it and now sitting in a corporate office tellling people that he learned alot? Do we call such people as "hero"? Am I missing anything? Please correct me if I am wrong

[@LilyBrand12345]

Haha very true

[@ab6775]

It is a must to watch startup failure stories coz it is what happens to 90% startups..we see only Uber ,other heavily funded ipo startups success stories

[@xaviersee]

Great video, CNA! Hope to see more of such videos from you guys.

[@mr.animemystery60]

Bruh they told the man to run and recorded him to put that motivation message. But anyways NOICE

[@namraparvez1730]

Sometimes it is good to share failure stories so that we learn from them. When it comes to entrepreneurship, we only hear success stories which creates an illusion that creating and maintaining your start up is not very hard, when, in fact, it often is.

[@joshuaemanuel4625]

Awesome story. Thanks for being honest and helping alot of ppl realize that being an entrepreneur is tuff. Ups and downs. You rock

[@dbiswas]

I lost 300K and a house with my 20 years of marriage. So, you are in much better place. But I am not giving up either. I am dating a beautiful girl and we are in relationship for last 6 months. And thinking of proposing her this Christmas. Life goes on, and failures are the best class room to learn your lessons. This video was very inspirational.

[@salesrepresentativebrandon8082]

DON'T GIVE UP! NEVER GIVE UP! DONALD J TRUMP!

[@algofreak8510]

you followed your dream which is a lifetime achievement.Only 1% of people follow their dream.

[@gastromacho2]

Brother. Many people fail and do not want to share the experience. You shared your experience and this has helped and inspired a lot of people to try again.

[@LanceFavorite]

“Evolution forge the entirety of sentient life with only one tool, mistake”

[@mattm7482]

I'm a friend of anyone who quotes Westworld, particularly Ford.

[@1999_reborn]

Matthew Mo I like that quote. Is Westworld worth watching?

[@LanceFavorite]

Matthew Mo Glad to have a similar minded here

[@LanceFavorite]

1999 first two Seasons are mind blowing, season 3 is alright, felt like trying too hard to be chim, if you get what I mean.

[@maidavioletaasi80]

I once had almost the same idea as this but not vendo. I want to enter food business but my partner is into tech business.

[@gdoe00]

Should have tried the Lean approach first, but live and learn.

[@eddysetiawan2329]

This should be higher, startup shouldnt gamble on big ideas. They need to validate their problems and solution before scaling.

[@mothupilekgau310]

Watching this as my startup is also failing

[@achimedia9322]

Your business works because you make it work

[@rui__sm]

@@achimedia9322 lol that's not how reality works

[@Abdul.Basit.Entrepreneur]

Failure is part of success!

[@jamesgrimaldo5809]

I believe in your start up, yes there's problem but I do believe that it can be fix.

[@cano4458]

a lot of startups actually fail the "Silicon valley" route. They get distracted by raising money instead of revenue. Idk, that's my learning and I'd bootstrap businesses. What do yall think?

[@gwyn.]

Maybe he should start making cars Khoo Kars, for Fiat.

[@trendsonic77]

So did he jump into the ocean at the end? just kidding inspirational video

[@sumitkumbhkarn]

😂😂😂 That's the only thing remained for him.......

[@jttan1028]

I didn't think you fail. You came out of this with great experience and knowledge. You have an amazing tenacity towards challenges. Thank you for sharing!

[@funnyshish6305]

Don't really understand what problem he is trying to solve. If people don't want to go to hawker stands they can use a delivery service but his idea requires they go somewhere else, the vending machine, which means they still have to go somewhere.

[@sitdowncomedyXD]

Nice happy ending. Thriller ending would be if the company who hired him was behind all his failure as an entrepreneur. Ooooooo.

[@jualproperty_id]

What is his business model? ..cust order from apps, than he send to locker in apt/office lobby?..somethink like that right?..what is the competitive advantage against..like grabfood or gofood?